Panic Attack
by Manuel the Wonder Llama
Summary: Jasper is bored. What's the fun of having gifts if you don't use them? This one shot was written for Scene Stealers Contest. This is an alternative version of events based on TWI Ch 9.


This was written for the Scene Stealers Contest. You can read all of the entries here: /~scenestealerscontest

Much love to my betas: Wuogkat and LadyRip. They are both wonderful, smart, and really pretty too.

**Disclaimer:**All characters and material are property of S. Meyer. This may well include the couch they are sitting on this story. If not, then I'd like to claim that as mine. Seriously, though, no copyright infringement is intended.

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I wasn't the only one listening in to Edward's conversation with Bella. They were in Carlisle's office, and Edward was explaining the family story to her. It wasn't like we didn't already know it; we've all either heard it or been a part of it. So it wasn't like any of us were interested in the conversation – at least not Edward's half of it. We wanted to know what Bella had to say.

"I want to know what's going on. It's not fair that Edward's not letting us hang out with her, too," Alice whispered to me. "It's horribly unfair!" She paused for a moment. "At least he can't read her mind," she said.

"Oh, get over it," I spat back at her playfully. "Are you really trying to turn this into some kind of soap opera?"

"You don't think that this is the most amazing thing? I mean," she paused, grasping for the right words, "we're talking about opening our world to a human."

"But more importantly, we're opening our _home_ to her," Esme stressed.

"Seriously, are you two really that interested in every word she says?" I was still whispering, but I think my frustration was coming through loud and clear. It wasn't that I didn't care about their feelings. They both genuinely cared for and about Bella, which is something that I was not ready to do on my own yet.

"Yes," Alice said with a giddiness that was unusual even for her. "And if I'm going to be so honest about it, I might as well eavesdrop in comfort."

Alice turned out of the kitchen, where the three of us were standing, and started pushing me ahead of her toward the living room. She didn't give me much of a choice and led me ahead of her. She even picked my spot on the sofa, which I wanted her to believe annoyed me a little bit, but I knew that she saw right through that ploy.

I didn't even want to be a part of this party and had promised Edward that I'd keep my distance while Bella was here. Now Alice had me trapped. She had plopped down sideways on the couch beside me and draped her legs over mine. Even Esme joined us, which surprised me a little, but Alice obviously expected it.

"Oh, they've made it up to his room," Alice chirped.

"Why'd Carlisle have to leave?" I breathed in frustration. "I'm sure he could save me from this…" I trailed off not sure what to call it. Although I didn't really like Bella from the start, I was willing to try to make things work for Alice's sake. But that didn't mean I liked the idea.

"Oh, Jasper," Esme spoke up, "please understand how important this is for us, and if you cannot be happy, at least find some way to entertain yourself quietly."

_Oh, my holy hell_, I thought to myself, _I'm stuck here with these ladies who have nothing better to do for entertainment_.

So we sat listening to their private conversation in Edward's room. They were talking about his music collection, and the women seemed to be hanging onto every word. I found this about as much fun as skipping through a pasture while collecting wildflowers.

"At what point does this get good?" I asked. "I mean is anything physical going to happen? Sex? Violence? Anything?"

"Jasper." Esme gave me the sternest look she could muster.

"Oh, shut it, Jasper," Alice said, "and if you must know, I haven't seen anything that I'm going to share with you!" There was twinkle in her eye as she teased me with this.

I dropped my head onto the back of the couch, trying to enjoy myself as much as possible. Now Edward and Bella's banter had moved onto something about not being frightened by vampires, and Edward was trying to scare her a little bit. If nothing else, this was finally getting the potential to be mildly interesting.

"Good grief," I muttered, still trying to play with my frustration. Esme looked at me disapprovingly, but Alice had no reaction, which actually surprised me. Within a few moments she blinked her eyes and looked at me.

"If you're so bored, call Emmett," she said. "There's going to be a storm tonight, and he'll want to play."

I was bored! And I decided to use this as a cover to make something interesting happen. As I pulled out my cell phone, I focused on Bella, hoping that the ruse of calling Emmett would take attention off of me.

I was paying attention to two things at once. In one ear, Emmett's phone rang. In the other, I heard Bella stop talking and Edward start asking what was wrong. _He's always too serious_, I thought to myself.

Esme sat upright in her chair obviously very concerned about Bella, and Alice was trying to "see" what she could.

In one ear, I heard Emmett answer his phone, and in the other I heard Bella tell Edward to get away from her. Now, things were getting very interesting, and I was "stuck on the phone."

"Emmett, Alice sees a storm coming. C'mon home if you wanna join us for baseball," I blurted into the phone and hung up. "What'd I miss?"

I didn't really need to ask. I could hear Bella race out of Edward's room and slam the bathroom door behind her. The slight echo in the bathroom amplified her heavy breathing. In between short gasps of air, she was muttering to herself, questioning why she came into a house full of vampires. Edward was standing at the door, offering whatever soothing comments he could offer, while feeling his guilt for trying to scare her in the first place. _Is it wrong that I'm finding this more entertaining than their conversation?_

"I'm really worried about Bella," Esme said, now standing up. "Do you think we should call Carlisle?"

Alice was deep in thought, searching for any vision she might have.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She's human after all," I said calmly.

"What's going on?" Emmett asked, entering the room only moments after getting my call. Rosalie had come in behind him but stayed away from the rest of us as if she thought Bella might have been in the room.

"Oh, nothing major," I said. "Bella's having a full-on panic attack because Edward made her realize that she's in a house full of vampires."

Emmett stepped out of the room and came back. "Edward looks like he's caressing the door. What's up with that?"

"Bella just thinks that she's safer behind that door than out here," I offered. "You know there are some things about being human that I really do not miss."

"How long has she been in there like this?" he asked.

"Oh, it just came out of nowhere only moments ago," Esme said, still very concerned.

"Jasper?" Alice was looking at me with utmost severity. "Why did I just have a vision of you and Edward fighting?"

"Hmmm… we're probably wrestling." I couldn't repress a little smile.

And for a few moments, we were all there quietly pondering on the situation when Emmett finally spoke up.

"They were alone, weren't they?" Emmett asked.

"Yes," Esme answered, "they were talking in his room, when all of a sudden..." she trailed off.

And then it all happened so quickly that I hardly recognized it was Emmett who put all the pieces together.

"Dude!" Emmett yelled at me, "Just because Edward's not fucking with the human doesn't mean that you get to!"

My cover was gone, and I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. I released my focus from Bella, and she recovered immediately.

"C'mon," I implored, "what's the point of having these powers if I don't get to use them every once in a while?"

"You didn't!" Alice breathed with true concern.

As they came to realize that I was, indeed, responsible, I was immediately inundated with all of the emotions from the family: Esme was truly angry, Alice was very aggravated that I would pull such a prank, Emmett thought it was funny albeit inappropriate, and Rosalie found the situation rather amusing.

Then, through the mist of all the other emotions in the room, I could feel Edward's wrath well before I heard him bolt from the upstairs hallway. I had to change his emotions or else Alice's vision would come true, and I had almost no time at all. I put all of my focus and attention on Edward.

He appeared in the living room, standing right in front of me with a death stare. Everyone sat quietly waiting for a response. Alice, removing her legs from my lap, sat so upright that she was nearly standing. There we were, waiting for something, anything, to happen, until Edward finally broke the silence by laughing.

"I really want to hit you, Jasper, but that was actually kind of funny," he said with a chuckle.

Most everyone else released a bit of a nervous chuckle, and even Bella added her giggle upon entering the room, as though she didn't want to be left out of the joke.

I smiled, knowing that I was working my way out of this, when all of a sudden Edward unleashed one of the fiercest punches that I have ever received. He literally knocked me out of the couch, across the room, where I crashed into the wall.

"I saw that coming," Alice muttered under her breath.

"Just because you can make me laugh doesn't mean you're innocent! I know you're manipulating me," Edward spat out through his last chuckles.

I could tell that this truly frightened Bella, and she did not want to be the cause of a fight any more than she wanted to be here to witness one. No one else was scared, but I could sense the overall disappointment in me, mostly from Esme. However, Alice really wanted this to stop, so I decided to let Edward have his victory.

"Alice says there's going to be a real storm tonight," I said to Edward, "and Emmett wants to play ball. Are you game?"

Edward genuinely brightened up with this offer, but he turned to Bella. It helped that Alice added how much she'd like Bella to come along. I even decided to pitch in and made her feel calm and safe. _That should buy Edward a little more time with his pet_. If that didn't make some amends, nothing would.

Somewhere deep down, however, I knew I deserved that hit, but I'd never admit it… at least not vocally. If Edward wanted my apology, he'd have to look for it.


End file.
